Three people dead as violence continues in Mexico's Acapulco port city

[News_Editor]

Three people dead as violence continues in Mexico's Acapulco port city

2011-03-18 02:17:23 GMT+7 (ICT)

ACAPULCO, MEXICO (BNO NEWS) -- Three people on Thursday were killed in Mexico's Acapulco port city as organized-crime-related violence continues.

According to Guerrero State Police, two bodies were found at about 00:37 local time on the Mexico-Acapulco highway. A vehicle was left abandoned near a market in Las Cruces neighborhood.

Police officers discovered two female bodies inside the car, a 30-year-old woman and a 4-year-old girl. The victims were gagged and shot dead execution style. No more information surrounding the deaths was given at the moment.

At about 6:00 a.m. local time, police officers located another abandoned car this time on the Acapulco–Tierra Colorada road. A man of approximately 23 years old was found shot dead inside.

The car was left abandoned near the Maxitunel exit to the Mexico-Acapulco highway on Las Cruces neighborhood. The victim was bound and gagged before being executed.

Acapulco has been marred with organized-crime-related violence in the last days. At least 17 people have been killed in the touristic port. Héctor Paulino Vargas López, chief of Acapulco police, labeled the situation as 'delicate'.

On Wednesday, a group of unidentified armed men was travelling on five vans and stormed three neighborhoods killing eight people, including three minors, and injuring two more.

The gunmen also threw a grenade at a residence which burned it to the ground and torched a small store. Among the victims there were a 14-year-old boy, a 70-year -old woman and her two grandsons.

In February, at least 12 taxi drivers were murdered and about ten more people were killed in drug-related violence. In January, 15 decapitated bodies were found in the touristic port city.

According to government figures, a total of 15,273 drug-related crimes occurred in Mexico in 2010. Fifty percent of them were concentrated in three northern states: Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas. More than 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderon began the fight against organized crime in December 2006.

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